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Name: Valley Montessori School |
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Valley Montessori School honors the imagination, mind and heart of each child. Guided by the work of Maria Montessori, we create an environment where children are inspired to realize their academic, personal and social potential. The child is challenged by the classroom environment which inspires self-paced, individualized and guided discovery. The curriculum prepares the child for academic success while stimulating creativity, curiosity and a love of learning. The Mind The Heart
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Valley Montessori School Our priority is the children we serve. All of our decisions and actions are based upon this conviction. We model grace, respect, integrity and professionalism while always creating an optimal educational environment. We count on our partnership with parents. Together, we inspire a love for learning within each child. Our Board is a valued resource, an advocate for fulfilling our vision. We rely on them to be the guardians of our financial future. Our students contribute to the greater good of the global community. They value diversity, friendship and independence, as well as collaboration. The heart of our school is the quality of the relationships we have with one another. |
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Valley Montessori School opened in Livermore in 1976 and became a not for profit, board owned school in 1996. We use the methods and philosophy of Maria Montessori, an internationally known educator. We are accredited by the American Montessori Society (AMS) and the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC). The entering child is gentle and vulnerable with a need for love, protection, friends, and intellectual stimulation. These are serious needs. To serve children directly is not what they need; to give help is sometimes an obstruction. Therefore, the Montessori prepared environment allows children to act freely on their own initiative, meeting needs through individual, spontaneous activity. Although the Montessori classroom allows for individual learning to take place, there is also a mix of children of different ages to work with in each classroom. In the toddler and primary classrooms some children will be seen talking and working, while others watch. The children work freely and when they choose to complete their task, they return the material to its proper place. There is a variety of activities and a great deal of movement. Children at this age enjoy and need social courtesies. For example, they are interested in knowing how to greet, to shake hands, and to excuse themselves. In this environment children learn to express the best of themselves by improving their social skills as they acquire manners and consideration for others.
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Although most of the class time is spent in individual or small group format, during some part of each day the entire community of children might engage in whole class activities such as storytelling, singing, movement activities, or large muscle activities. When the children go outdoors for “large motor” activities, for gardening or nature walks, the unique needs of the individual child merge as part of the vibrant community whole. The Montessori three-year age groupings afford maximum stimulation for young children, enabling them to imitate and internalize skills before they receive a lesson. The classroom has a heritage. Knowledge and behavior is passed on from one level to the next. The oldest children provide leadership, reliable friendships, and academic learning. Because of the open-endedness of the Montessori environment, there is no ceiling to what a child can do. In collaboration with the teacher all kinds and levels of learning take place maximizing the individual potential of the child in an environment that has a place for everyone. Multi-age groupings mean more group options respective to ability and interest. Because there is a wider program for varied levels, there are wider options for the child's individual pace. The Montessori “prepared environment” implies that the environment can be designed to maximize independent learning and exploration on the part of the child. In the elementary classrooms there are familiar materials from the preschool-golden bead arrays, map displays, movement alphabets. The VMS elementary environment strikes the imagination, leads to abstraction, and provides a system of information storage and retrieval. Spatial timelines, pictorial zoology, botany charts, classified nomenclature booklets, live animals, and collections of natural specimens - the elementary environment is a coat of many colors taking the child into a great inspiring overview - real, dignified, and far reaching. |
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The Montessori child usually has the same teacher for three years. Having the same teacher for three years allows for intimate knowledge of the child. With this time, the teachers can discover the child's strengths and challenges. The teacher and child know where they left off from year to year, and build strength by affirming what the child knows best. Valley Montessori School is a private, independent, non-profit school for children from eighteen months through eighth grade. The school goal is to educate the whole person through the Montessori approach which addresses the intellectual, social, emotional and physical needs of each child. The school is accredited by the American Montessori Society (AMS) and the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC). |
The philosophy of the Valley Montessori School community is the encouragement of the child's interests and curiosity, and the development of responsible, independent thinking that fosters a life-long love of learning.
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